With more than 20 participating shipping companies and 75 registrations from (independent) travel agents, Captain Cruise can look back on a successful retail evening. The exclusive evening for travel sellers took place on Friday evening at Van der Valk Delft, where the Captain Cruise consumer fair will take place on Saturday. It is the first time that the cruise specialist has held a consumer fair in the spring. More than 800 (potential) customers are expected for the edition in Delft on Saturday. ‘We usually hold our consumer fair in the autumn, somewhere in October or November, just like other parties. To be distinctive, I thought we should give it a try in the spring. We only put this fair out in January, so with 800 customers and 75 travel agents the night before, I’m not dissatisfied,” says Robert Pieter Gardenier, director/owner of Captain Cruise, who adds that the next consumer fair will take place again in the fall. Captain Cruise’s last consumer fair brought in a lot of first-timers, Gardenier says. ‘A stock market like this is not a cash cow, it only yields something in the long run. To keep it accessible, we do not charge an entrance fee. We always get a mix of regulars and people who have never been on a cruise before. People get inspired and end up booking after the fair. There are a lot of people who are taking a cruise for the first time. They book with our partner agents or directly with us.’ Gardenier launched its VR project on Friday evening, which allows customers and travel agents to view a cruise ship inside and out via virtual reality. Through VR glasses, customers can view 360-degree images of a ship. For the project, Gardenier enlisted the help of former travel agency entrepreneur Kees Kooijmans, who used to pioneer with self-made videos for his own travel agency. 
Kees Kooijmans. Kooijmans is part of the team that produces the VR images. Images have already been taken of most river cruise companies. In the case of sea cruises, the range of VR images is steadily expanding. ‘Every time a ship visits a Dutch port, we are there with the camera in consultation with the shipping company,’ says Gardenier. ‘I really see VR as the sales tool of the future.’ Photo: Robert Pieter Gardenier and Gitte Tiro-Hoogendonk, who, as Business Development Manager, is also the face of retail.
